Blog...

Today we began a new lecture series with Rachel Dobbs.Such a great session so full of information and ideas I cam e home buzzing with possibilities and ideas.

Fund raising:You should aim for great starting points with questions that are not closed. What is the need? What do others want? What is missing? Who else is doing this? Who is living the need? What is happening elsewhere? Could you run a sister project from someone who has already had similar ideas?Others will know what works, what doesn’t work, bring collaboration.What is missing? Do lots of research. How does your project fit with other strategies and initiatives? You don’t want to duplicate. You need to understand what already exists. Who else is working on projects in this field? Speak to people. Not completing but collaborating? If they don’t want to collaborate find what makes you different. Who to partner up with. Don’t do it on your own! Again what’s missing!

Collective Evidence: so how do you know? Where are your citations? No sweeping statements! Are people involvedConsultation process. Find out stuff out, prior knowledge, gather information. Radiators not drains... Stats and Surveys: local authority stats online etc, ie demographic info.Clarify what is the problem you are trying to solve?How big is it?What is going on in this area. Dint ask close a questions like do you agree with me about what we should do but ask what do you think is missing, what should we do, what are you ideas... What is it a problem or what is causing it and can it still meet the need even to some extent?

What are the underlying problems?

What is your project? Planning:What do I want to achieve?How are you gonna do it?Aims are general and broad what do I want achieve overall? Use your aims to test everything. So you need good aims and they need to be worthwhile...

Asking why am I doing this is really important! Check that this is answered by the aims.Don’t jump to activity too quickly! Your aims should be objective not subjective. Instead of “best party ever” you would write “activity that is memorable fun involves something unusual or special...”Objectives are more specific. Indicators or targets. how can I break down overall aims into a check list of objectives. Ask good questions to get these.

How your going do it needs to be about POSSIBLE outcomes.... more than one answer.... which version is the best answer?Going through various outcomes with pros and cons...Maps resource Which is best and which is possible and realistic!